Abstract
Drawbacks of current carbon dioxide capture methods include corrosivity, evaporative losses and fouling. Separating the capture solvent from infrastructure and effluent gases via microencapsulation provides possible solutions to these issues. Here we report carbon capture materials that may enable low-cost and energy-efficient capture of carbon dioxide from flue gas. Polymer microcapsules composed of liquid carbonate cores and highly permeable silicone shells are produced by microfluidic assembly. This motif couples the capacity and selectivity of liquid sorbents with high surface area to facilitate rapid and controlled carbon dioxide uptake and release over repeated cycles. While mass transport across the capsule shell is slightly lower relative to neat liquid sorbents, the surface area enhancement gained via encapsulation provides an order-of-magnitude increase in carbon dioxide absorption rates for a given sorbent mass. The microcapsules are stable under typical industrial operating conditions and may be used in supported packing and fluidized beds for large-scale carbon capture.
Highlights
Drawbacks of current carbon dioxide capture methods include corrosivity, evaporative losses and fouling
Solid sorbents with high surface areas and low CO2 binding energies, such as zeolites[12], metal-organic frameworks[13,14,15], frustrated Lewis pairs[16] and nanoporous polymers[17], have been introduced; they suffer from low CO2 capacity in the presence of water, poor stability over multiple absorption–desorption cycles and/or high cost of production[5,18,19]
The materials systems must meet several criteria; sorbent cores of controlled composition and geometry must be encapsulated, their polymeric shells must be sufficiently permeable to CO2, so that the absorption rate is dominated by the encapsulated sorbent system, the sorbent system must be capable of multiple CO2 absorption–desorption cycles, and the mechanical integrity of these microcapsules must be retained during repeated cycling
Summary
Drawbacks of current carbon dioxide capture methods include corrosivity, evaporative losses and fouling. Polymer microcapsules composed of liquid carbonate cores and highly permeable silicone shells are produced by microfluidic assembly. This motif couples the capacity and selectivity of liquid sorbents with high surface area to facilitate rapid and controlled carbon dioxide uptake and release over repeated cycles. MEA is highly corrosive, yields toxic degradation products, and requires significant energy to remove CO2 during sorbent regeneration[7,8,9,10,11]. To overcome these limitations, new sorbents are needed. Corrosive or highly viscous ionic solvents may be encapsulated via the MECS motif yielding other types of capture media, we focus on carbonate solutions for this first demonstration
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
